


Blast from the past

by Miss_Barbara



Category: NCIS
Genre: Episode: s03e03 Mind Games, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-27
Updated: 2016-06-27
Packaged: 2018-07-18 13:48:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7317697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Barbara/pseuds/Miss_Barbara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Past – A baddie from a past episode of NCIS is once again walking free. They could have escaped, been paroled, been acquitted of the crime, up to you. One thing for sure, though, is that they’re looking for revenge on the people who arrested them in first place. Team-centric.</p>
<p>As soon as i read this prompt i thought of the season 3 episode Mind Games, Kyle Boone is too date still one of my favorite NCIS villains, so i just had to use him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blast from the past

October 4th, 2005

Killing had always been about pleasure. Nothing has given him the same thrill as cornering those women and marking them as his. Killing out of emotion had always seemed so barbaric, so animalistic. Except now he understood. It wasn’t suppose to end this way. he should have won, come out on top, defeated Gibbs at his own game.

Pacing back and forward in his cell he felt frustrated, there was anger that had never been there before. Not once but twice now had those navy cops defeated him. Before he had been okay with the entire situation. He had trained a prodigy and he was going to humiliate Gibbs. There was no way he was going to rest in peace now.

Ignoring the calls and noises from the other cells in his wing he rattled the door, walked back and dropped down on the bed. This situation was unacceptable and something had to be done.

\---

“I demand to speak to a lawyer!”

He has been yelling at the top of his lungs for the past forty minutes now. Under any other circumstance he would have waited, some lawyer would have shown up anyway, but there was no time to lose. The guard has been by three times now but he refuses to stop yelling until he speaks to his lawyer. It takes another while when finally two guards show up, taking him away with the promise that his lawyer is underway. He wants, no, needs to take revenge on Gibbs, the first step is to make sure that his execution is rescheduled, delayed for a while at least.

While he waits for his lawyer to show up he is shackled to the table so instead of pacing back and forward to get rid of some of that nervous energy he can only sit there and wait. Now more than ever is time of the essence. He can only hope that his new lawyer is not an incompetent hack like the last one had been. It must have been at least another hour when his new representation finally comes in, holding a stack of files with what is most likely information about him. This time it is a woman, which doesn’t bode well for him. They generally don’t like him and he doesn’t respect them.

At least she wasn’t his type, her short cropped black hair and the fact that she was at least forty was a far cry from his usual preference. “Sharon Ronda,” she introduces herself. “What can i do for you mister Boone?” she asks icely polite.

While she is looking through his files it is not hard to read her facial expression. She is clearly wondering why the hell he thought he needs a lawyer, his execution is pretty much a done deal.

“I need you to postpone my execution tomorrow,” he says, waiting for her reaction. She does not disappoint when her head whips up, looking at him as if he has grown a second head. “Mister Boone, even if i was inclined to do this for you i highly doubt that there is a judge in the whole state that would sign of on this request. I am not going to waste taxpayers money with this nonsense. I suggest you take what is coming to you.”

Clearly annoyed she gathers all the files she dragged in a few minutes ago. “I’ll see what i can do for you but do not get your hopes up Mr. Boone.”

While her heels are clicking away on the concrete he was taken back to his own death row cell. He had no choice but to trust her, something that was not easy, but it was all out of his hands.

\---

The atmosphere in the prison was strange the next morning. He had a restful night’s sleep considering it was his last one on earth in this reality. The atmosphere in the prison felt strange, normally this time of day the warden would have been by with his breakfast, but the only thing he could hear were hushed whispers between other prisoners. He was not really sure how he had expected to feel, given he that come noon he was going to die, but he did not feel different from all the other days he had woken up in this hell hole. He washed himself a little and settled down to wait for someone. 

He was unsure of the amount of time that was passing by, he had nothing in his cell but through the window he could see the sun climbing higher and higher in the sky. His stomach began to rumble when he heard the door to the wing unlock and soon two guards stopped in front of his door.

“Up and attem,” the smaller one said. “Your lawyer is waiting for you.”

She was already waiting for him in the room when he was pushed in and secured to the table. On the clock behind her on the wall he could see that it was close to noon. Since his execution had been scheduled at 12:00 sharp he could safely assume that she had managed to give him a little more time.

“Don’t thank me,” she says before he was even sitting down properly. “Yesterday afternoon the only official executioner of virginia was in a car accident. All executions are put on hold until a new one is found and sworn in. There is a back-up but he is on vacation in europe and was not willing to come back just for one execution. I did not think it was going to happen but you got your extra few days. I suggest you make the best of them.”

Gathering her still closed briefcase from the table she stands up and motions to the guards that she wants out, leaving him behind. Now that the first part of his plan was set in motion, he needs to find a way to escape the prison.

Before he had never planned to escape, so now he had to plan and escape as soon as possible. He had heard rumours and plans of escape, but as far as he knew no one had succeeded. 

He asks permission to visit the library and after a short conversation over the radio the guards tell him that he is granted permission. He is allowed two books in his cell, so he has to choose carefully. They mostly have books for learning so after careful consideration and a reminder from the guard to hurry up he choses two medical books. 

Back in his cell his lunch is waiting for him and as he is eating he ponders his options. The prison doesn’t have it’s own morgue. If he is to die he is going to be transported to the local county morgue. From there on breaking out would be ridiculously easy. His only problem is the whole dying but not staying dead part. That is the part where the medical books come in. He needs a combination of medications that would make him appear dead for a couple of hours until he is at the morgue outside of the prison walls.

At one point he eats his dinner but he is not paying attention, reading page after page until the lights go out for the night. The next day is spend much the same way, eating and reading until the lights go out once again. But this time he lays down with a smile on his face. Now the question is how he is going to procure the correct medicines to complete his plan.

As a death row prisoner he does not have a lot of contact with other prisoners. Acquiring the goods he needs is not going to be easy, he did not own anything that could serve as currency in the prison. He has never put much stock in developing contacts and relations and now he wishes he had. He didn’t sleep that night, his mind going over the possibilities and options for his escape. While he knows who can provide him with the medication that he needs, as the sun rises he still isn’t sure how he is going to get it done. He washes up and is ready by the time a bored guard brings his breakfast around. It is the same tasteless crap as always. He is eager to go out into the exercise yard, something that he has never been before. If the right person is there, then in thirty or so hours he is going to be free. 

Once outside he starts walking his normal rounds, the guard were already looking at him funny and be it whether he has gotten an unexpected new lease on life or because he is acting stranger than usual, he does not know but better not call suspicion on himself.

In the end it isn’t as hard as he hard fears. He trades away some of his carefully hoarded items for the medications he needs. It is not as if he is going to need it ever again anyway. Timing the medication right is a little bit trickier. It will take somewhere between thirty and fifty minutes for the fake dead to occur. If he takes them to early he will have not enough time to carry out his plan, he can hardly wake up while he is still on route to the morgue. If he takes them to late he will still be fine when the guards make their rounds and he won’t be discovered untill he was already dead for a couple of hours or maybe even alive again.

He decides on taking them about an hour before he is to be forced outside for his daily outside time. If he does not get out of his cell by himself the guards will come to check up on him. With a little bit of luck he will be in the morgue three hours later. Since his best estimate is that the effect was going to last about four hours that will be his ideal plan. He can wake up while still in transport but it is not be ideal. 

All the prisoners are on a schedule so when his two neighbours were taken out of their cells he pulls the three little pills from his shoe and looks at them. Here’s to nothing he thinks as he swallows them away with some water.

The entire process of ‘dying’ is beyond loopy. He can feel himself slowly losing consciousness, unable to move his limbs as he slides to the floor. His last thoughts being that he better not die for real. 

As slow as ‘dying’ was, so abruptly was waking up. Between one moment and he next he was gasping for air, His first instinct to go and fight his way out of the confining darkness but he quickly remembers where he is and why he should at least wait a little while to make sure that he is alone. If the gasping hasn’t given him away that was.

Trying to get his racing heart back under control he listens for sounds, but it seems that he is completely alone. His coveralls are open and his chest is sore, so they had probably tried to resuscitate him. He firmly isn’t thinking about mouth to mouth.

Feeling along the inside of the black bag he locates the zipper and starts zipping the bag open carefully. Even with the bag open over his face it is still dark and his heart races as he realizes that he must be in one of the drawers. It is incredibly cold and he carefully extends his arms out of the bag, thankful that he could, he did not appear to be locked inside something. Slipping out of the plastic he figures that he is just in a waiting room as there are more body bags. This must be where the bodies go before they are declared officially death.

Now that his eyes are getting used to the darkness he is slowly starting to see shapes and outlines. The first thing he will need to do is change clothes. After he has made sure that light will not be visible from the outside he flips the switch and starts looking through drawers for anything that is less obvious than a prison jumpsuit.

The pair of jeans and plaid shirt are anything but stylish or fitting but it was pretty non descript so he goes with it, flicking out the lights and walking out of the room. To not stand out he has to act like he belongs, so he casually strolls through the hallway, grateful for the exit signs. He even nods to the doorman on watch who is much more interested in his magazine then in people going out.

Stepping out on the street is surreal, not a week ago he was so sure that he was going to die pretty soon, but now he is once again a free man.

The first step will be blending in, changing his appearance so he can’t be tracked on traffic cams. Picking someone's pockets is as easy as it has ever been and the wallet has enough cash in it for an appearance change. Some new clothes and a packet of hair dye later goes search of the biggest mall he can find. The handicapped stall will give him enough space to change his hair colour and make him unrecognizable enough.

\---

“Thank you for the heads up Gouverneur, i appreciate it. If there is anything we can do to help you locate Mr. Boone i will put as many resourced at your disposal as i possibly can.”

With a short greeting she ends the phone call. She knows that if Gibbs learns about Boone’s escape the man would be insufferable until the bastard is found. She presses the intercom button and asks Cynthia to come in.

“I have just gotten word that Kyle Boone is escaped from prison, they haven’t given me any details but they assume he has been on the run for a couple of hours at least. For now his escape is going to be kept quiet as to not alert people. I need you to make sure that the news doesn’t reach our HQ, The last thing i need is for Gibbs to disobey my orders during my first few months.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” she says before going back to her desk. They haven't worked together long but she knows she can trust the other woman with this task.

\---

Time is running out, any minute now his photo will pop on televisions screens and a man hunt will start. Petersburg was too small for him to be able to hide until the worst of the search has died down. So he acquires some more cash and buys some basic camping equipment and a map of virginia. Hitch hiking is out of the question, he doesn’t want anyone to be able to point in the direction that he has been going. Using the map he decides that Shenandoah national park is a great place for him to hide. Hiking there is going to take a week at least and everyone probably suspects that he is going north and not west. 

Finally he stocks up on a water bottle with filter and a couple of meal bars before he makes his way west. 

\---

May 2nd 2009

“What do you mean Leon, ‘Kyle Boone escaped from prison’.”

“I found this file that says confidential, Kyle Boone escaped from prison in the beginning of october 2005, with strict instructions not to tell you. Care to enlighten me Gibbs?”

“As far as i know that bastard was electrocuted october 5th of that year! Nobody told me what he escaped.”

Angry he rips the file from the director's hands. The file has the bare details of what happened. Boone had escaped prison by faking his own dead and later walked out of the morgue in petersburg. In fear of widespread panic the authorities had kept his escape a secret for the general public. A dedicated team of FBI agents had tracked down lead after lead but was disassembled 18 months after his escape. It had appeared as if the man had gone up in smoke.

There are two reference numbers, one for the original NCIS file and one for the FBI file. On top of the paper is a post-it note with Jenny’s neat handwriting. ‘top secret, do not tell LJ Gibbs’.

Fighting his first instinct to yell at Vance he puts the file down on the desk. “She had no right to keep this from me and i don’t know why she did.” He is angry that she is still pulling stunts on him even after she died. Without a word he turns on his heel and marches out of the office. 

Since Tony and Ziva are out McGee is the only one at his desk. He is thankful that the young agent is well trained and didn’t even protest when Gibbs ordered him to pull up everything he can find on Boone, even though McGee must think that he was dead as well. His face is easy to read and Gibbs can pinpoint the exact moment the other man realizes that they didn’t know that Boone had gotten away several years ago.

“I don’t know either McGee,” he says before McGee could even open his mouth. “Director Sheppard had given explicit instructions that I wasn’t too know. Find out everything you can, get all the original FBI information over here. I want that bastard found and i want him found yesterday!”

Vances eyes almost burn into the back of his head but he isn’t backing down on this, he isn’t going to let that crazy ass psycho roam around free any longer.

\---

July 17th, 2009

He knew that this was coming, Vance couldn’t allow the MCRT to work such a dead case, but it still stung.

“I can’t you have spending this much time on a cold case that isn’t even ours to begin with. I am ordering you and your team to drop it and pick up your normal workload.”

“Yes Director,” he says crisply before exiting the office. He isn’t done with Kyle Boone, not by a long shot.

\---

November 23rd, 2015

Coming out of hiding feels almost surreal, For the last ten years he has been busy, mostly with surviving and not getting caught, but he feels sure enough that no one wil be looking for him any more. When he has not been busy poaching, hunting and hiding he had worked out the perfect masterplan. First step would be to take down that harpy that had destroyed his perfect plan. Paula Cassidy.

Pretending to be a hiker gets him a lift all the way to DC which is much easier than expected. The couple in the car chatters happily about all the wonderful things they have seen and he had to bite his tongue not to tell them about how he had been sure that he would die of an infection six winters ago, or how that coyotes had eaten his entire food stash the first winter.

Instead he fabricates a story about how he is a highschool teacher and goes out to hike as much as he can. He makes them drop him off somewhere in the suburbs and disappears between the houses. He knows that ten years is a long time and he is most likely not actively being searched for at the moment but he is also not going to take any chances.

Walking through a small street he spots a bunch of laundry drying outside in the still warm winter sun. He grabs some jeans and a plaid shirt that he hopes might fit and quickly disappears, His beard and long shaggy hair will only need a trim and he will very easily fit in with all those hipster types he has spotted hiking in the past months. He has a nice wad of cash, stolen from hikers. Not enough for them to notice, but enough that it wil keep him for a little while. His next stop is a barbershop. The guy fixing his hair up is chatty, he talks about the unusually nice weather, about the upcoming elections and tons of other things. He answers vaguely and drops some cash before walking out. 

Finding a motel to set up a base of operations is his first priority, he has carefully fed the anger for Gibbs and his team. Paula Cassidy is going to be his first victim, that Witch destroyed his plan and she is going to be the opening number. 

Seedy motels that take cash and don’t ask any questions are a dime a dozen in the DC suburbs. The walmart around the corner provides him with some food and more clothes and a tablet that will give him internet access. He almost feels giddy when he sits down on the disgusting chair and pulls up the internet browser. Finding out that Agent Cassidy has died in the line of duty send him into a fit of rage. She was supposed the be the grand opening to his revenge but now someone has taken that away from him. Furiously he grabs the steak knives from the drawer and throws them across the room, watching them sink into Paula’s picture with a satisfying thunk, the entire blade sinking into the wall.

Time to rework his plan.

\---

The internet is an amazing source of knowledge. He has never really seen the use of it, but now he marvels in the amount of knowledge it provides him. Finding Gibbs and his team is easy, social media profiles gives him all the information he needs. NCIS’ forensic specialist’s page is a true treasure of knowledge. The check-in feature is used often. ‘Eating with the bossman’ gives him a nice pin on the map of an urban area, it shouldn’t take a lot of effort to confirm that the house is indeed Gibbs’. He finds the houses of Sciuto, McGee, DiNozzo en Bishop just as easy. There have been more people involved in his case but he can not target them, there is no need to point the team towards him that easily.

Opening one of the boxes of disposable gloves, also from Walmart, he gets to work, he puts the sheets of crisp, heavy paper on the dining table that is covered with plastic foil. The chicken in the sink is drained from all it’s blood and he carefully takes the container with blood over to the table. His sign always used to be a heart, carved into their backs. Since he will not be using any anonymous people this round he has to improvise. So chicken blood on paper has to do, it is a crude solution, not elegant in any way but it should be a nice clue for those boneheads.

The scratch of the feather on the paper nauseates him, it is nowhere near as elegant as his original work. The six pieces of paper on the table take a while to dry and he avoids looking at them as much as possible. The chicken he dumps in a trashcan in a nearby park and the blood he flushes through the toilet. Using another pair of gloves he carefully folds the papers twice before putting it into an envelope. The only thing that he isn’t sure of yet is the delivery method. 

Hand delivery is very tempting but too dangerous, three of the six recipients live in apartment buildings where there a bound to be security camera’s. He buys stamps from a vending machine and asks six different strangers to write the addresses on the envelopes before dropping them in six separate mailboxes, all the while making sure that he doesn’t leave any fingerprints. If only he could be a fly on the wall when they get the fanmail or when they take it too work.

\---

“See Gibbs, at first i wasn’t sure if it was a love letter but when Tony send me a picture i started having some doubts and well, Tim, Jimmy and Ellie had them as well, it can’t be a coincidence Gibbs!” She is bouncing on her toes, pigtails flying in all directions. Only Abby would consider a bloody heart a love letter. “Abbs,” he snapps, get her to focus on him and the work in front of them. “I don’t like these, I don’t take threats to my team lightly, find out everything there is to find out about it!”

His radar had pinged as soon as he had opened the envelop. His gut has not stopped bothering him since. The whole thing makes him think of Boone, but the man hasn’t been seen in over ten years, plus Jimmy has never been involved in any of his cases and neither has Bishop. He strides into the bullpen, hoping against all hope that his team has answers for him.

His cup of coffee didn’t last nearly long enough and he takes an extra second to drop it in the bin before turning towards the only agent sitting at his desk.

“Talk to me McGee.”

“Not much to say Boss, codes on the envelops say that they are all posted from different areas around the city, not one of the mailboxes is covered by any sort of camera so that is a dead end. The stamps are widely available and stick on, so Abby won’t find any DNA there. The paper, the envelops, all untraceable as well. As far as i can tell even the addresses have been written by different people.”

It is not unexpected but it is highly frustrating.

“Find me something,” he orders before turning around and going to the stairs. Time to visit autopsy.

The ME was working in his domain, performing an autopsy on what was a supposed suicide. His assistant chattering the background.

“Ah Jethro,” he says, pulling an organ out of the open body. “I wondered when i would see you here. Mister Palmer told me all about your troubling new case.”

“Yes,” he responds, taking a second to gather his thoughts. “My mind went right to Kyle, he is officially still missing, but ten years is a lot of time to hide out. I keep tabs on his methods, no dead bodies have been found.”

“My mind went there as well, but you have to admit that it is curious that he send a heart to Mister Palmer an Eleanor while they had nothing to do with the case while i performed most of the autopsies and got nothing!”

“It’s not sitting right with me Duck, i think this is just the beginning of something much more nasty.”

“I don’t know, i do not posses your famous gut, but if you will excuse me, even though lieutenant Watson's life came to a sad end, he still deserves all my attention.”

He needs another coffee.

\---

He has to come up with another plan. His initial intended openingsact was short one guest star so he will need to find a stand in. Luckily her every feature was burned into his brain. From her grey eyes and dark blonde hair to her small nose and curved lips. 

For the last couple of days he has been staking out places with high foot traffic in order to locate a substitute but so far a decent one had not been found yet. None of them are the right size or posture. One one had been a close match until she started walking and she had a limp. It wouldn’t make a big different with the effect he was going for, but he still couldn’t force himself to pick her.

It has been four days since the letters and to be honest he had hoped to be at least halfway done with the next step of his plan, but you simply can’t rush art. Just when he is about to stop for the day he sees her, she is not really tall enough but other than that she is as close as someone was probably going to be. 

Now that he finally spots his target the chase is about to begin. This had always been his favorite part and after years and years of being denied he has trouble hiding his excitement. Initial contact is going to be the hardest, it has always been. Creating that first moment of contact but making it seem completely random is tricky. Grabbing a basket he follows her into the target. There are enough people in the store that he can easily keep an eye on her.

When she is shopping in the aisle with feminine hygiene products he sees his chance, dropping a few random items in the basket he approaches her. 

“Excuse me,” he starts “I am wondering if you can help me?” 

“Yes, sure” she agrees after looking around for a second. 

“Thanks,” he continues. “My daughter, she has her first period and my wife passed away a few years ago, can you maybe recommend me a few things?” He pointed towards the packages of tampons and pads, hoping that she will take pity on him.

Her features soften immediately. “Poor thing,” she says while grabbing three different things from the shelves. “These two are pads,” she explains while holding up a pink and a purple package. “The bigger ones are great for during the night. These are tampons, i wouldn’t recommend them for her first time but these are small and not as messy as pads so she might want to try that as well. You will want to stock up on painkillers and snackfoods as well.”

The three items are quickly stowed in his basket before she grabs a bright green packet of tampons herself and walking away. He snorts out loud, thinking that there are not enough tampons in the store to soak up all the blood she is going to spill soon.

\---

The NCIS headquarters are quiet, most people have gone home with a few exceptions. Bishop is doing the thing where she is staring at a bunch of papers, most likely trying to familiarize herself with the Boone case, McGee is frantically typing on his keyboard and Tony appears to be playing a game of pong on his phone.

Abby hasn’t been able to find any clue on their mail. No prints, no DNA. The blood had been chicken blood of a common species. His team hasn’t been able to find anything either but he refuses to let them go home. This is the calm before the storm and they are they better be prepared.

“Go home, catch some sleep.”

The team is not stupid enough to ignore that order and he watches them scramble off into the elevator. No need to work them into the ground before it is necessary.

\---

It takes him another two days of carefully staking out his victim, who is Jessica Steen, and Gibbs’ house. He appears to have a constant open door policy which makes him change his plan from doing this in the yard to doing it in his house. Give it a little personal touch.

He ‘accidentally’ bumps into Jessica again and acts very thankful for her help the other day. Convincing her to let him take her out for a drink as a thank you is extremely easy, she accepts as soon as he asks. She is a little more suspicious when he says that he will need to go home first but she follows him in her car easily enough.

They pull up in front of Gibbs’ house. He never likes guesswork but the area is too busy to go hauling around with a dead body and the times Gibbs usually works indicates that he isn’t going to be home for another couple of hours. Still, it will have to be a rush job. It’s laughable how easily she follows him inside. Before she can comment on the sparse furniture he has turned around and presses a rag with chloroform against her mouth and nose, catching her before she falls to the ground. 

Stringing her up is a quick job and it’s not long before she is dangling from ceiling. Gibbs has adrawer full of sharp knives so he quickly grabs one and sets to work, time to prepare a hell of a surprise.

\--

The week has been pretty uneventful but he knows something is up as soon as he parks his car. There is an unknown vehicle in front of his house and while that in itself isn’t cause for his gut to act up, he has been on high alert ever since those strange notes had come to him and his team.

For a second he wonders if he should call for backup Tony can be there in fifteen minutes, but he decides against it. He draws his weapon and carefully opens the door, knowing that something is wrong as soon as the coppery smell of blood hits him. He leaves the house for what it is and walks around the outside, looking trough the windows. What he sees almost makes him lose his lunch. A woman’s back with a heart carved into it. 

He calls Tony to report what has happened, trusting his senior agent to take the right steps. A quick look around shows nothing out of the ordinary in the garden. 

Tapping against the window gives him no response from the woman so for the moment he decides not go inside as to not disturb the crime scene.

He is raging. Boone is back and with a mission it seems. He curses Jenny for not informing him that he had escaped, the bastard had years to prepare his revenge and as much as it hurt him to admit it, Boone has always exceptionally smart. 

Tony’s car comes to a screeching halt in front of his house a short amount of time later, he must have broken at least a couple of speed limits. He is dressed in a pair of jeans and a button up shirt, ready for a relaxed night. He pales when he sees the scene in the livingroom. 

“Shit boss, I guess Boone is really back. Son of a gun.” He turnes around and looked at Gibbs. “I called in Ducky, Palmer, McGee, Bishop, i also notified Vance, he is at the office making a stink and calling in a whole load of agencies.”

“The truck?”

“Vance is going to assign an agent still at the yard to bring it over, it is more time efficient that way. No sign of him?”

A shake of his head answers that question. His eyes follow the younger agent as he walked towards the window. “Shit boss,” he breathes as he takes a closer look at the scene inside. “I guess that there is no doubt about the culprit huh.”

McGee, Bishop and the MCRT truck appear to arrive at the same time, filling up the streets. Abby’s appearance a few minutes later isn’t a big surprise either. Her pink pajamas with skulls are. “Gibbs!” She says, going in for a hug. “I heard what happened and i was just so worried!” He kisses the top of her head, trying to calm her “I am fine Abbs.”

They stand together outside the house, watching the team sketch the crime scene and collect any evidence they can. Camera flashes looking surreal trough the windows of the dark house. Ducky and Palmer are the last ones to arrive, coming up the driveway with their truck.

They go inside, Palmer trailing after his mentor while carrying all their equipment. “Good God,” Ducky gasps as soon as he sees the victim. “This poor lass reminds me of agent Cassidy. Given the fact that she is missing her tongue and she has a heart carved in her back it is not much of a stretch to assume that is the work of Kyle Boone?”

That is a question that did not need answering. “He is making a statement Duck, the woman, my house. We messed up his plans ten years ago and now he is back for revenge.”

“You think he is going to come after us Bossman?”

“I am pretty sure that i am his end game. But he will take out the ones he deems as weaker first. I am going to put a protective detail on you and some other people, just to be sure.”

Ducky and Palmer don’t need more than an hour before they leave with the body, but the rest of the team works until the sun appeared again on the horizon. Everyone takes their own cars, going home for a shower and a change of clothes before coming to the navy yard. Gibbs looks at the mess that is his house, blood and fingerprint powder everywhere. Deciding to let someone else deal with this crap he goes upstairs to pack pack a bag and takes the MRCT truck back to the navy yard. Gym showers will do the job just fine.

\---

Thanks to a small wireless webcam he has been able to follow the whole thing on his tablet. He had made it back to his motel room just in time to see Gibbs pull up at the house. He hasn’t been able to see everything, placing a camera in the house would have been too risky. No use in being caught before the big finish after all. 

A new blonde is on the team, Eleanor Bishop according to his research, currently in a divorce with her soon to be ex-husband Jake. Sciuto appeared as well, as a surprise.

He watches them work for long couple of hours before turning the cam off. Time to rest before the next episode in this drama.

\---

Abby know that it was up to her now. Major Maspec is buzzing away, analyzing a couple of unknown substances while her main computer is sorting through the fingerprints. A lot of them are Gibbs’. There is also Fornell, Tony and surprisingly also Director Vance. There are a couple unknown ones add she has to verify with Gibbs who had visited him recently and might have left fingerprints. She will have to collect them to eliminate those people as well.

The materials used on the woman are nothing special, items that can be bought at any wal-mart. Unfortunately there are too much of those in the DC area to watch all the security footage and check for suspects.

Suddenly her computer beeps, announcing that it has a fingerprint match for the victim. Pulling up the DVM file she gasps as she realized that the woman looks very much like Paula. Her name is Jessica Steen, 39 years old and married with no children. A quick license check reveals that it had been indeed her car that is parked in the street in front of Gibbs’ house.

With a few keystrokes she sends the information on it’s way. Not envying the team upstairs who has to notify the husband that his wife is killed by a crazy man. 

Giving Bert a quick squeeze for comfort she continues, filling her caf pow cup from the keg she has ordered in. No one is going to rest until Boone’s heart stops beating, she is sure of that. Going over to her main screen she pops on her headset, time to call in a few favours. 

Half an hour later she is logged in to NASA’s servers, watching last night’s satellite footage of Gibbs’ house. If only she can make out what he looks like of what kind of car he drives, that wil make a world of difference. She has a rough time frame, given Ducky’s time of dead and when Gibbs has left the house in the morning. She starts when Gibbs has arrived at his house at night and goes back in time. 

Not a lot happens, people and dogs walking, children playing on the sidewalk. She is bringing the straw of her caff-pow to her mouth for another sip when suddenly a car parks in front of the house and a person walks backwards into it. Hitting the spacebar she stops the footage. Zooming in gives her a pretty clear picture, she is lucky that the satellite wasn’t right above DC at the moment that Boone appeared. 

“Still an ugly mugg I see,” Gibbs says, appearing at her right shoulder. “He changed his appearance, I would not have recognized him.”

“He went all hipster ons us Bossman. I’ll use this screen shot to update the BOLO and his current car.”

“Do I want to know how you got this footage?”

“Not really, it will be admissible in court, but at least we know what he looks like and the kind of car he drives.” Tapping a few keys the screen starts moving again.They don’t think too much about what is happening, in reverse, in the house that they are looking at. On screen almost an hour goes by before Boone and the woman appear again. They are walking next to each other, nothing seems out of the ordinary.

“She wasn’t forced,” Gibbs states as they watch two cars drive up to the house. “That means he must have got her to come along of her own free will. Abbs, I’ll send McGee down here, you track all her movements and she where they could have made contact. Heck, use that footage to follow where boone goes.”

“I can’t” Abby apologizes, “My friend is already taking a big risk letting me look at this area alone If i am going to go snooping around he will be in trouble.”

Gibbs leaves her without a word. Taking another sip from her caf pow she set to work. Major Maspec will have some results for her soon.

\---

Now that he has made the first real move he has to hurry. Gibbs has caught him before and he knows what the inevitable ending is going to be. So he just has to make sure to finish his part before the end.

He has seen McGee’s girlfriend a couple of times through the window and she is to be the next pawn. The building has security cams but the parking lot in the back is the perfect place to grab her. He puts on a coverall and takes a toolbox with him, no one will look twice if they think that he is a maintenance worker of some sort. His caddy has enough space in the back that he can easily store a body without people noticing. The apartment is quite a drive and he reaches it a little after five. He guesses that McGee will be at the Navy Yard for the entire evening, if not the entire night. Gibbs likes to ride his agents hard while on a case.

Parking his car with the back to the entrance he opens the door and starts fiddling with his tools and an electrical box. Her time of arrival is unclear to him but he hopes it will be soon, he doesn’t know how long he can pretend to work there. During a few of his surveillances she has been home by six, at least that is when he could see lights and movement in the apartment. 

A long twenty minutes later he can’t believe his luck, he sees her pull into a parking space with her car. Staring can give him away so he focuses his attention back onto his ‘work’.His mind registers that something is wrong with the sound she is making seconds before seeing her in a wheelchair. 

Unfortunately he has been so focused on kidnapping her quickly and quietly that his body has already moved and she is already breathing in the first of the chloroform. He has always prided himself on his quick mind and his ability to keep his cool, but right now he is panicking. He pulls the limp body out of the chair and into the back of his car, causing the wheelchair to topple over. He puts his equipment in the car as well and slams the door shut, driving away as fast as he can. This is a big problem.

\---

He is panicking. It was not helping but his mind is going in circles. Taking her to his predetermined place is not an option, she will not be able to hike the distance necessary. Taking a deep breath he takes a decision. He has to dump her and quickly find another victim. 

DC has changed a lot since he has last been there, he isn’t sure where there is a nice and quiet place to drop her. He drives to the office district and picks a parking tower where he drives all the way to the top. 

There is only one other car on the top deck and he breathes a sigh of relieve. A long strip of duct tape goes around her wrists and a shorter one over her mouth. Dragging her out of the car and on to the asphalt isn’t hard, she isn’t even stirring. For a second he considers it, but she is damaged and not a good subject for his art. 

Getting back in the car, he drives away a little quicker than sane, but he does not want to be around when she is found.

\---

Something is wrong. McGee knows it as soon as he sees the phone number of his landlord on his phone display. “Tim McGee,” he answers. He listens with growing dread as his landlord tells him that they found Delilah’s wheelchair toppled over, with her car in the parking lot but her nowhere to be found, not even in their apartment.

Somehow he manages to politely thank him as he ends the call, time is distorted as he sits down. He can see Abby’s mouth moving but it takes a few heartbeats before everything aligns again.

“Boone’s got Delilah.” 

Several emotions flash over Abby’s face before they resolve in determination. “We will get her back Tim.” She sets into motion, calling Gibbs and the other two agents down to her lab. “We think Boone has Delilah,” she says as soon at the three of them enter her lab. “Tim got a call and...” she stopped, realizing that she didn’t know what he had heard.

“It was our landlord, her wheelchair was toppled over outside, her car is in her parking space but she isn’t anywhere to be found. She won’t change her schedule without telling me. He has her Gibbs, I know he has.”

Gibbs seems to switch into gear automatically. “DiNozzo, Bishop, go check it out, talk to neighbours, see if you can find any evidence of maybe a camera that has a good view. Abby, we know what kind of car he drives, track him through traffic cams, ATM cams or whatever cameras you can find. We don’t know his new hiding place so we need to track him. McGee, make a BOLO and then try and track her phone.” 

The fact that Gibbs always knows what to do is comforting, it propels him into action as well. Creating a bolo was strange, almost as if he is playing around, filling in the facts he knows so well. Pulling a recent picture from his phone he sends the notification away. He kind of hopes that she is brought into a hospital and that no one had told him, anything but her in the hands of Boone. 

After that he also updates Boone’s BOLO, adding that he is now wanted for a suspected kidnapping. Staring at the screen he feels that his hands begin to shake and his vision turns a little blurry. 

He knows that he was having a panic attack, he is also very aware that it is not helping but he can not control it. Thoughts are spinning out of control until he is pulled out of it by Abby who is wheeling his chair away from the desk. through the secondary lab area right into the small ballistics lab where she parks him in front of the table. She pulls a couple of candles from somewhere and quickly lights them.

“I am setting the timer for five minutes Timmy, that is how long you have to freak out, after that i need you to pull yourself together and work your magic Mister MIT.”

With the press of a button she locks the door and leaves him alone. It is sort of nice to have a set time to freak out. He allows himself a minute or two of worst case scenario. He has been on Gibbs’ team for a week shy of a year when they had investigated the Boone case. He can still see the woman, abused and mutilated hanging from the trees. He had taken his time with them, which might be on their side. Jessica Steen had been a warning, he was going to make a point with Delilah otherwise it would not have mattered who he had taken.  
l  
Banging on the window to get Abby’s attention he waits until she lets him out. There is no point in wasting any more time. He all but runs back to the main computer, starting the tracing program’s. He laughs a little bitter laugh. Not that long ago he has personally modified her phone to make sure that it won’t be easily traceable and now he has to work against himself. His first few tries are unsuccessful, trying to gain access through a few apps. 

Going the normal route won’t work, her signal will not ping of the nearest cell tower, he had created a program that would re-route it through a few wifi providers. That is the first thing to go as soon as she is back.

He finally gains access through an app called Zipps. She has a phone full of ridicilious apps and he has never been happier for that. Minutes pass by as the computer is working to triangulate a signal. The phone isn’t used at the moment which means that he has to wait for the phone to request an update for mail or messenger. Abby notices his tense posture but keeps working since he ignores her chattering.

After seven long, grueling minutes he finally gets a ping for the location of the phone. Quickly transferring the search to his phone and keeping it active in case the location changeshe leaves the lab on a run, hoping that Gibbs is at his desk.

Not ten minutes later he is sitting in the car with Gibbs, holding on for dear life while constantly checking his phone to see of the location is changing. It doesn’t make any sense, the location does not match any sort of area that Boone would usually choose for his activities, only he isn’t sure if it is a good or a bad thing.

“I can’t find anything about the location that might make it important or special for Boone,” he says looking through his search results. “It is a relatively new parking structure, there is nothing that indicates any significance so i am just not sure why i get pings there, but i guess we'll find out soon enough.”

Gibbs is driving with his usual mad man style, barely avoiding other cars and making him fear for his life. She hasn’t moved, or at least her phone, for the last twenty minutes and while it might not seem that long, every single second feels like a year. He has a small heart attack when he realizes how big the structure is and how long it will take.

“Call local law enforcement, ” Gibbs orders, tell them about our situation and that we need help searching the structure. “Can you pinpoint her exact location?”

“No, i can try calling her cell but we will not hear it if it is on vibrate.”

“We will get her McGee, if she is there, we will get her. A bottom to top search with people on every level, with us ending on the top floor, that way we have to find her if she is there.”

He has seen the pictures of the building before, he hates that he didn’t had the foresight to call in extra help. Now they hava to wait precious minutes for the other people to arrive. Literally vibrating in his seat he jumps out as soon as Gibbs brings the car to a stop. 

“”McGee!” Gibbs snaps, causing him to turn on his heel back to the boss. “I know how you feel, i know you want to go in there and rescue her and get your revenge on boone i know how it feels, i have been there. Can you keep a clear head when we go in there? If you can’t then i am ordering you too stay down here with our car.”

“No Boss,” he responds. “I am good, i will not screw up.”

After a few seconds Gibbs nodds. “Good, now we wait for backup, did you call DiNozzo and Bishop?”

\---

Tony might not have Gibbs’ gut but something is fishy here. Two other tenants in the building had remembered seen a white van with a blue and red logo. A supermarket opposite the only way in and out of the parking lot was kind enough to let them look at their outside surveillance video’s. A call to the company reveale that the truck has been stolen which a database search confirms that they had filed the theft with the police.

While they are on the phone with the local police the man reveals that a cop car had just called in the location of the stolen vehicle on the lot of an abandoned warehouse. He decides that they need to check it out, it might contain evidence. Ending the call he notices that Bishop has gotten a phone call of her own. It turns out to be McGee who had located Delilah’s phone and they were waiting for backup while checking out the parking structure where her phone is suppose to be. Ellie quickly relays their findings and plans to the other team while Tony drives towards the warehouse.

He can’t quite shake the feeling that something is wrong, it is too easy. They meet up with the two police officers who have located the car. They have nothing of interest to mention and promise to keep an eye out on the road while he and bishop are going to check out the car and the compound. The tall, dark police officer breaks open the lock on the gate and lets them in, weapons drawn. It doesn’t take long for them to conclude that the caddy is abandoned. Careful and alert they continue on the side of the building where there is a door, slightly ajar.

He goes in first, trusting Bishop to cover his six. All his senses are screaming at him but he decides that they need to check it out, how big is the chance of Boone actually being there?

It isn’t until he feels a dart hit his arm that he realizes the colossal mistake they have made. They last thing he sees as he feels his legs give out and his grip on his consciousness fade is Boone’s smirking face.

\---

Ten levels of parked cars take more time to search than he had ever could have imagined. Checking cars for heat signatures, Every level he tries a call her cell but he doesn’t hear anything ring. With only two levels left to search he feels frustrated and ready to give up. With every level they search and come up empty his hope is dwindling until they finally reach the last level. Ready to give up hope he dials the familiar number one last time. 

About to end the call he suddenly hears the faint noises of her ringtone, not ever before has he been so relieved to hear a sappy Bon Jovi song. Breaking out in a run he moves towards the noise as fast he can. The phone goes to voicemail just as he rounds the corner, Gibbs hot on his heels. Spotting Delilah’s limp for is a curse and a blessing. His heart is in his throat as he tries to find a pulse. When he finally finds one, slow and steady, he stumbles away, throwing up his dinner. 

Gibbs is calling up an ambulance, giving McGee a minute or so to pull himself together. He carefully removes the duct tape from her mouth and wrists. As far as he could tell she looks fine, just unconscious, but they have to wait for the ambulance and let the professionals do their work. Sitting down on the cold ground he carefully pulls her head into his lap, fingers stroking through her hair in an almost unconscious motion.

Soon enough the ambulance arrives and asks him to move away so they can easily examine her. They had strap her onto the brancard just as she is starting to stir.

“McGee,” Gibbs said, pulling his attention away from her. “Tony and Bishop are not picking up their phone, I am going to check it out, you go with her.”

Nodding his thanks he goes into the back of the ambulance, holding Delilah’s hand all the all to the hospital.

\---

Being tied to a chair is rarely a good thing in his line of work. His legs are tied to the front legs and his wrists to the back legs, not tied together. It is the hardest position to escape from. Blinking away the headache he opens his eyes to take a good look around. Quietly cursing he notices Ellie, strung up on the ceiling, standing on her toes, naked. The limpness of her body suggesting that she is not yet conscious. He is positioned perfectly to watch the whole thing, he has no doubt that he is going to perform a show. One he is forced to watch before he wil no doubt be killed himself.

Boone is nowhere to be seen, He carefully tests the chair and his bounds and realizes that he can’t put too much hope into escaping his bounds. Boone is bound to be watching him and he doesn’t want to escape just yet, even if he can. Because then he wil be tied back up for sure, better to wait when he is focussing on Ellie.

He is furious with himself. As the senior agent he should have kept her safe, and he has failed. In front of him she begins stirring, her brain trying to work out while he body isn’t coöperating while still sluggish. Now that she has come too as well it won’t be long before Boone wil re-appear. The panic in her eyes as soon as she realizes what is happening to her is gut wrenching. Her hazel eyes locking with his. 

Things are going down fast. He has a vague hope that the two police officers that are hopefully still outside will come in soon and put an end to this, but Boone is too much of a perfectionist to leave loose ties like that.

Hopefully Gibbs wil show up because they are out of contact for too long, but given the fact that he and McGee are looking for Delilah he doesn’t hold out much hope. The best he can do is hopefully distract Boone enough to take out his anger on him and not Ellie.

Desperately keeping his eyes on her face he notices movement on the left side and looks over. Boone is strutting in, looking nothing like the man they had seen so many years ago. He is pulling of the hipster look quite well, beard and longish hair hiding his facial features enough that he will never be recognized from camera footage by a computer program. 

The table he is walking towards has a selection of knives and other torture implements that make his stomach turn. Unfortunately no amount of cajoling or calling names seems to distract him from what he is doing. 

Picking one of the smaller knives he tests its sharpness against the table, seemingly satisfied with the knife he walks towards Bishop, ignoring Tony and reveling in her panicked cries. “Don’t worry sweety,” he croons, “This is merely foreplay. the main course is Gibbs, of course. I want to be in top form when i take him down, and i haven’t been able to practice in a while.”

He licks his lips and carefully puts the blade on her pale skin. The tip leaves a light scratch as he drags it down over her skin, goosebumps breaking out. The real terror is not in what he is currently doing but more in what he is capable of doing. 

The chair that he is tied to has narrow, rusty legs, he is pretty sure that if he can manage to land one of them on Boone’s abdomen or chest it will pierce right through and end him, but for that he has to lie down. Ellie has to do it, but he isn’t sure how to signal her, she is in too much panic at the moment to be of use.

He frantically thinks of something that signals his plan to her without letting Boone know. The other man is pretty much engrossed in his work so he carefully shuffles closer. Landing right on boone is going to be tricky, being tied to a chair doesn’t leave much room for movement.

A choked of sob from Ellie focuses his attention back on her. Boone is now putting more force behind the knife and is drawing angry and bloody stripes over her ribs.

“Bishop!” he says in the sternest voice he can muster. “Look at me.” The most important thing right now is staying alive long enough for someone to find and rescue them. But at the rate Boone is going he isn’t sure how long they have. On the one hand he is pretty sure Boone is going to savour it, enjoy it as long as it is going to last, on the other hand, if Gibbs is his end game he might hurry so he can get to his final victim faster.

Her eyes snap up to his, away from Boone and his knife. “Tackle him,” he mouths, carefully making sure that Boone won’t see. At her questioning look he mouths the words again. She is not in a good position, her toes barely reach the ground, but they have the element of surprise on their side. 

Making sure that Boone is still focused on Ellie he shuffles his chair closer, trying to hide the noise by talking and yelling at Boone. The other man is so intently focused on his work that he does not notice that Tony is now less than three feet away.

Silently he counts down from three, it was all or nothing as he mouths Go!

Time seems to slow down, Ellie is wriggling in her bonds like a fish on a hook, kneeing Boone in the stomach, taking him by surprise. With all his power he bends forward, lifting the chair as well as he can, shuffling over towards Boone, who is already trying to get up. With a sickening crunch he drops the chair down, one leg over his ribcage and one in his abdomen. He does not really want to think about what he just did, but he can feel Boone clawing at him, His fingers get weaker and weaker until he gurgles out his last breath, blood bubbling up from his mouth.

“Tony!” Ellie gasps, “Your side.”

While he wants to chalk the queasy feeling up to the gruesome murder he just committed, he realizes that Boone’s knife is lodged in his side and he was steadily losing blood. With the both of them tied up there is nothing to do about.

He lets out a heartfelt curse before slowly slipping into unconsciousness.

\---

Regaining consciousness is like clawing through a layer of cotton balls. The beeping of hospital machines and the feeling of good painkillers flowing through his body are all good signs that he is in the hospital. Full awakeness is just out of reach, he can hear Abby chatter, Tim’s calming voice and eventually Gibbs’ deep rumble. If he is in the hospital the chances are good that Ellie and Delilah are there as well, there is no way that they would be not looking for her if she isn’t found yet.

With a tremendous effort he opens his eyes. In the mirror on the opposite wall he can not only see his very pale self, but Ellie and Delilah on the other beds. He lets out a small sigh of relief, which alerts the others to his awake state. Abby is the first to bounce over, carefully hugging him. From her bed Ellie thanks him for saving her life as Gibbs watches him like a proud father.

Apparently he lost quite a lot of blood, before Gibbs came charging in. He had been alarmed by the unconscious police officers outside. Freeing Ellie, they had cut him loose and stopped the bleeding as much as he could. Gibbs had used his fingers to clamp the blood vessel that had been severed until the paramedics had taken over. Stitching him up in surgery had taken a while and how they were filling him back up with blood and liquids. 

He is still a little woozy but happy to know that Boone was finally taken care off once and for all. Tim was just telling him how they had located Delilah when a stern looking nurse comes in. The three of them are to stay for observation, the ladies for one night, Tony for a little bit longer probably, but the rest of the team has to leave. McGee was saying goodbye to Delilah while Abby takes a bit longer, saying first something to Ellie before coming over and hugging him more tightly than is necessarily comfortable. 

Gibbs was the last one to leave the room, coming over to his bed and leaning in close.

“I am proud of you DiNozzo, you did good today..”

With a warm feeling in his chest he watches Gibbs leave the room and slides back into a dreamless sleep.


End file.
